Key Takeaway

Japan's anime industry is worth over ¥2.7 trillion annually, but in China — its biggest overseas market — beloved characters from Pokémon to Doraemon face rampant trademark squatting, counterfeiting, and "copycat" games. In February 2025, The Pokémon Company secured a landmark 107 million RMB (~$15.7M) settlement against a Chinese game company that had cloned Pokémon. It is the largest foreign anime IP settlement in Chinese history. Yet for every case that wins, thousands of Japanese characters remain unprotected. If Pokémon had to fight this hard, what chance does a mid-sized Japanese anime studio have?

The Soft Power That China Eats for Breakfast

Japan's anime and character IP is arguably the country's most successful cultural export. Pikachu, Doraemon, Hello Kitty, Naruto, One Piece — these characters command billions in licensing revenue globally. China represents the single largest consumer market for Japanese anime, with an estimated fanbase of over 300 million people.

But China is also the world's most dangerous market for character IP. The combination of a first-to-file trademark system, weak pre-registration enforcement, and an enormous domestic counterfeiting ecosystem creates a perfect storm for Japanese rights holders. The result: characters that took decades to build are copied, trademark-squatted, and sold as legitimate local products in a matter of months.

The Pokémon Case: China's $15.7 Million Wake-Up Call

In December 2021, The Pokémon Company filed suit against Guangzhou Mai Network Technology Co., Ltd. and several other companies. The allegation: they had created and distributed a game called "Pokémon: Remastered" (宝可梦 复刻) that was essentially a clone of the original Pokémon games.

What They Did

  • Copied Pokémon characters, game protagonists, maps, and combat systems
  • Replicated numerical systems (damage calculations, evolution mechanics, type advantages)
  • Used Pokémon's visual style, sound effects, and UI
  • Marketed it as an "improved" version of the original

The Court's Ruling (Shenzhen Intermediate Court, First Instance)

  • Found substantial similarity across all core game elements
  • Ruled infringement of reproduction rights, information network dissemination rights, and adaptation rights
  • Also ruled the defendants violated China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law
  • Awarded 107 million RMB (~$15.7 million USD) in damages

The Final Settlement (Guangdong High Court, February 2025)

  • After appeal, the parties reached a mediated settlement
  • The settlement was the largest ever for a foreign anime/game IP in Chinese court history
  • The Guangdong High Court issued a rare public statement: "Competition in the game product market cannot stop at 'copying' — it must innovate."

Beyond Pokémon: The Broader Anime IP Crisis

Pokémon's victory is a rare bright spot. The reality for most Japanese anime IP in China is far darker:

Trademark Squatting Epidemic

  • Doraemon (哆啦A梦): Multiple Chinese entities have registered "哆啦A梦" and variants across clothing, toys, stationery, and food classes. Fujiko Pro (the rights holder) has fought continuous trademark oppositions for over a decade.
  • Hello Kitty: Sanrio's most valuable character has been trademark-squatted across dozens of classes. Chinese companies produce "authorized" Hello Kitty merchandise that never paid a licensing fee.
  • Naruto (火影忍者), One Piece (海贼王), Dragon Ball (龙珠): All have Chinese-language names registered by third parties in key merchandise classes before the Japanese rights holders filed.
  • Ultraman (奥特曼): The Chinese trademark for "Ultraman" has been the subject of one of the longest-running IP disputes in China, involving multiple Chinese companies claiming legitimate rights to the name through complex corporate structures.

Counterfeit Products

  • E-commerce platforms like Taobao, Pinduoduo, and Douyin are flooded with unlicensed anime merchandise
  • Japanese rights holders estimate that over 70% of anime-related products sold on Chinese platforms are counterfeit
  • The volume is so high that enforcement becomes a game of whack-a-mole — take down one seller, five more appear

"Copycat" Games and Apps

  • Chinese developers routinely clone Japanese mobile games, reskin them, and publish them under new names
  • These clones often carry Japanese-sounding titles to exploit consumer trust in Japanese quality
  • The Pokémon model has been copied by hundreds of Chinese mobile games (Genshin Impact openly acknowledged early Pokémon inspirations but evolved into an original — most clones don't)

Why Japanese Companies Struggle

The Timing Gap

Japanese anime companies typically follow a "Japan-first" release strategy: launch domestically, build a fanbase, then expand overseas. By the time they file Chinese trademarks — often years after the anime first aired — squatters have already registered the Chinese names.

The Translation Problem

Most anime IP have official Chinese translations (mandated for China market access). But fans create unofficial translations years earlier. Squatters monitor fan communities, identify popular character names, and register them before the rights holders even finalize their official Chinese versions.

The Resource Gap

Filing and enforcing trademarks across 45 classes in China costs money and requires permanent local presence. Major IP holders like The Pokémon Company can afford it. Mid-sized anime studios and manga publishers cannot.

The Cultural Complication

In Japan, some stakeholders view anime as "cultural exports" rather than "commercial assets." This mindset leads to delayed IP registration and enforcement. In China, by contrast, everything with commercial potential gets trademarked — by lawfully operating local companies, by squatters, or by both.

How RTMCN Helps Japanese IP Holders

RTMCN specializes in bridging the gap between Japanese IP strategy and Chinese trademark reality. For anime and character IP, our approach includes:

  • Pre-broadcast trademark filing: Before an anime airs in China or on Chinese streaming platforms, we file the Chinese name across all relevant merchandise classes (25, 28, 16, 9, 41, 35 and more).
  • Character name portfolio: Each character name — English, Japanese kanji, and official Chinese translation — gets its own trademark filing, because in China these are separate registrations.
  • Monitoring and rapid opposition: We monitor CNIPA filings daily for squatting attempts on Japanese IP and file oppositions within the 3-month window.
  • E-commerce enforcement: We help rights holders submit takedown requests across Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Douyin using China's e-commerce law provisions.

Next Steps

Is your anime or character IP entering the Chinese market? Don't wait until your characters are already being sold by someone else.

*107 million RMB is what it cost a Chinese company to copy Pokémon. Registering a trademark across all relevant classes costs less than 1% of that. Ask The Pokémon Company if they wish they had filed earlier.*